You’re welcome, Mr. Governor

S.J. CAHN

The “thank you” didn’t come to my e-mail, but it did have my name on

it.

Sure, my name wasn’t spelled right, but no one else at the Pilot

has a last name close to “Kahn.”

No doubt about it then. This was a thank you from our new

governor.

And that’s where I got confused.

“Steve,” the e-mail began.

“The Join Arnold team thanks you for your support, efforts, and

contributions to the Orange County Schwarzenegger for Governor

Headquarters in September and October, 2003. ... Because of your

support we now have an outstanding Republican Governor in

Sacramento.”

Wow, I had no idea. I didn’t realize I’d done quite that much.

Yeah, I also realize that what I’d gotten was a mass e-mail. And

when it said: “The Orange County Schwarzenegger for Governor

Headquarters was able to accomplish a great deal of success, because

of your endless dedication, creativity, and hard work,” someone

didn’t really have me in mind.

Still, I think it’s worth noting that “[w]ithout dedicated

volunteers such as yourselves, Arnold would not be governor today. He

is grateful and thanks you from the bottom of his heart!”

I’ll remember that when I need a gubernatorial favor or a

weightlifting tip.

But it still left me wondering: What did I do, exactly? I

apparently helped with the following:

* “Deliver 63% of the vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger on Election

Day, officially making Orange County ‘Schwarzenegger’ Country.”

* “Organize and mobilize 13 Get Out The Vote (GOTV) Headquarters,

and 7 GOTV phone banks used to help drive up the vote.”

* “Mobilize over 3,000 Arnold for Governor Volunteers via e-mail

and telephone for a strong precinct and phone bank GOTV effort.”

* “Make over 30,000 phone calls to low propensity Republican

voters and Decline to State Latino Voters.”

* “Contact nearly 60,000 permanent absentee ballot voters on

behalf of Arnold, through an initial volunteer phone bank organized

by Rhonda Rohrabacher, Devin Dwyer, the Huntington Beach GOTV

Coordinator, the Huntington Harbor Republican Women, and Jonny West.”

* “Distribute 68,000 Schwarzenegger for Governor doorknob hangers

for the 72-Hour Get Out The Vote drill to help increase the number of

voters at the polls.”

* “Walk approximately 150 precincts during the weekend prior to

Election Day and almost 600 precincts on Election Day.”

Wow, I’m suddenly really tired. And still confused.

Daily Pilot designer Gina Alexander, when hearing what I was

writing about, offered one possibility.

“Maybe it’s all the pictures we ran,” she said, echoing a

sentiment more than a few readers had sent our way after we covered

Schwarzenegger’s repeated appearances here.

I suppose that didn’t hurt. But, still, what did I do, exactly? I

didn’t take any of the photos, for instance.

On Aug. 14, I compared Schwarzenegger to members of the wealthy,

moderate GOP group the New Majority. “And Arnold, if he wins, could

rewrite the New Majority story dramatically,” I wrote.

But in the same column, I also said that Peter Ueberroth had

similar business credentials. That doesn’t seem like much help.

Even worse, on Aug. 28 and Sept. 4, I let former Assemblyman Gil

Ferguson illuminate readers about the candidate he was supporting

during the recall: state Sen. Tom McClintock (remember him?). That

should have gotten me kicked out of Arnold’s campaign headquarters.

Also on Aug. 28, I highlighted the one win Ueberroth got during

his abbreviated recall run: InformationWeek.com naming his campaign

Web site the best among the recall candidates. Is that moderate GOP

blasphemy?

If not, then pointing out that McClintock was coming to a

breakfast in Newport Beach, as I did on Sept. 18, surely is.

Then, on Sept. 25, I wrote these words, which I’d now like to

disavow (I have to remember that favor I’m counting on):

“Arnold’s candidacy is not resonating with [a classroom of Orange

Coast College students] for a simple reason.

“‘Arnold, he sounds like he’s got some good ideas, but it’s all

about putting it into action,’ said Julia Goldman, 21, who saw Arnold

at his Cal State Long Beach stop. ‘What’s he done?’

“Arnold never gives any specifics, Destiny Snyder, 22, said.”

(Hey, that’s them talking, not me. Don’t kill the messenger.)

I more than made up for it, though, five days later with this

lead: “Peter Ueberroth’s withdrawal from the recall election has

proven to be a boon to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fund-raising in the

area.”

That’s much more like it.

And I was just warming up. On Oct. 2 (right about when other media

were heaping charges of sexual misdeeds on our state’s leader), I

penned a column with this headline: “Arnold for president?” It

detailed that Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah had introduced legislation

that would amend the Constitution and allow naturalized citizens to

become president.

I think I now know why I got my e-mail. “Arnold” and “president”

in big type. That’s gold.

Still, I was curious if others who’d been as helpful had gotten

their thanks.

The result of a few calls was deflating.

Newport Beach Mayor Steve Bromberg, who endorsed Schwarzenegger,

said the e-mail I was talking about sounded familiar. He thinks he

got it about three weeks ago. Maybe even a month.

And Laura Dietz, who’d been sounding the Arnold trumpet, told me

she got an e-mail thank you a few days after the election.

Perhaps worst of all, I wasn’t even publicly applauded in the

e-mail. But Corona del Mar businesswoman Cristi Cristich, who happens

to be running for the 70th Assembly District, was.

What did she have to do to earn that? Well, according to a

campaign spokesman, she put her own campaign on hiatus and dedicated

herself, her headquarters and her infrastructure to the recall and

Arnold. Instead of raising cash for her own benefit, in other words,

she was working for someone else’s.

I didn’t do nearly that much. But we did run some awfully

flattering photos.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He can be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at [email protected].